Dueling Arias (from Nov 2010)

I think I told y'all my daddy lived with this Italian family before WWII when he was working out of New Orleans. He was working out in the gulf, one week out and one week in, so he spent a lot of time with the Ponti family. He learned to love Italian food and Italian opera. People around here thought it was strange. They mostly listened to the Grand Ole Opry and church music. My daddy had this Victrola (the one with a crank handle) and about 25 records. And he played them in the living room of our house. Puccini and Verdi mostly. Seemed like he couldn't get enough and I heard the arias so much that eventually I knew the next note that was coming.

My mamma never took on to it and was in the kitchen most times listening to country on this plastic radio that sat on a shelf above the sink. Well, in the middle of the house it was crazy. Mimi vs. Kitty Wells and Rodolfo vs. Ernest Tubb. Now, I like 'em both.

Hollis give me this little doo-flicky called an ipod. He put a whole bunch of opera and opry music on it and now I can listen all day to either one.

Tomorrow: My Friend Dorothy